Student Profile: Senaca Harberger

After teaching African-American high-schoolers in Oakland, California, Seneca Harberger, MD, decided to serve that same population—as a doctor. The York, Pennsylvania, native then came to LKSOM because of its similar patient population and raves about Temple students and doctors from his father and brother, both of whom are physicians.

Harberger—whose wife is a neuro-engineer conducting post-doctoral epilepsy research at the University of Pennsylvania—also found time to earn an MA in bioethics. “Delving into the ethics and subtleties of how care is delivered to vulnerable patients makes a huge difference in how fairly and effectively such patients receive care,” says the recent graduate.

He also has managed to conduct health literacy presentations, screenings and healthy cooking demonstrations at a homeless shelter as a volunteer with the Temple Emergency Action Core Homeless initiative.

Finally, he lauds his classmates’ collegiality and their training. “After four years I won’t be done,” says Harberger, who will enter a Penn family medicine residency, “but the attending doctors and the upper years who’ve gone before me have been even more impressive than what I was told to expect, so I’m confident that I’m heading towards being a really extraordinary doctor.”